Warrington, Peckforton & Dorfold

Warrington, Peckforton & Dorfold

A Perfect Spring Day in Cheshire

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NEWSMAY 04, 2016

Warrington, Peckforton & Dorfold

Warrington, Peckforton & Dorfold

A Perfect Spring Day in Cheshire

We started this well-planned, leisurely adventure in perfect weather & so it remained all day. It was a great relief to Joan, who masterminded the programme, because Dorfold Hall would have been difficult in the rain. But we'll come to that later.

Our first stop was Warrington Museum & Art Gallery. I'm afraid few of us knew there was one in the town, but our ignorance was soon dispelled when a treasure trove of delights opened up before us in a galleried building, similar to part of the Manchester Museum, but on a smaller scale.

What was NOT there? We saw everything from giant spiders preserved in formaldehyde, to a room of stuffed fish, with a cunningly disguised artwork hidden in plain sight; from an ancient Egyptian Thebes coffin, to paintings by Luke Fildes & even a pot by Grayson Perry.

Opened in 1857, much of the quintessential character of the building has been preserved, which gives it such charm. For many of us, it was a nostalgia trip into our childhoods, when most municipal museums looked like this!

We had a sumptuous lunch in the grandest surrounding ever on a Whitworth trip-Peckforton Castle. Built only in 1844 by Anthony Salvin as a mock-medieval folly for the Tollemache family, it is imposing & intimidating, sitting as it does like a sentinel watching over the idyllic Cheshire countryside with its twin, Beeston Castle, on the opposite promontory.

Dorfold was an architectural contrast, being one of the county's prettiest Jacobean manor houses, home of the Roundell family. The house is a wonderful combination of aristocratic acquisition & domestic cosiness. We could all imagine ourselves curled up on the squishy sofas, reading back copies of Country Life, G&T in hand, looking out over the glorious landscape.

Once again, it was lovely to have a couple of new people on the trip...hope we made them welcome.

We started this well-planned, leisurely adventure in perfect weather & so it remained all day. It was a great relief to Joan, who masterminded the programme, because Dorfold Hall would have been difficult in the rain. But we'll come to that later.

Our first stop was Warrington Museum & Art Gallery. I'm afraid few of us knew there was one in the town, but our ignorance was soon dispelled when a treasure trove of delights opened up before us in a galleried building, similar to part of the Manchester Museum, but on a smaller scale.

What was NOT there? We saw everything from giant spiders preserved in formaldehyde, to a room of stuffed fish, with a cunningly disguised artwork hidden in plain sight; from an ancient Egyptian Thebes coffin, to paintings by Luke Fildes & even a pot by Grayson Perry.

Opened in 1857, much of the quintessential character of the building has been preserved, which gives it such charm. For many of us, it was a nostalgia trip into our childhoods, when most municipal museums looked like this!

We had a sumptuous lunch in the grandest surrounding ever on a Whitworth trip-Peckforton Castle. Built only in 1844 by Anthony Salvin as a mock-medieval folly for the Tollemache family, it is imposing & intimidating, sitting as it does like a sentinel watching over the idyllic Cheshire countryside with its twin, Beeston Castle, on the opposite promontory.

Dorfold was an architectural contrast, being one of the county's prettiest Jacobean manor houses, home of the Roundell family. The house is a wonderful combination of aristocratic acquisition & domestic cosiness. We could all imagine ourselves curled up on the squishy sofas, reading back copies of Country Life, G&T in hand, looking out over the glorious landscape.

Once again, it was lovely to have a couple of new people on the trip...hope we made them welcome.

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